MATH 210

Homework 6
Due: Friday 02/26/2021 11:59 PM
1. Find an equation for the tangent plane to the graph of the function
f (x, y) = y ln(x2 + y) + xy
at the point (3, −8, −24).
Solution: We begin by computing the first order partial derivatives
of f :

2xy y
fx = +y fy = ln(x2 + y) + +x
x2 + y x2 + y
This gives:

fx (3, −8) = −56 fy (3, −8) = −5

.
This implies that the equation of the tangent plane is:

z = −24 − 56(x − 3) − 5(y + 8)

2. Find an equation for the tangent plane to the surface
xy 3 + yz 3 + z 2 x − 11 = 0
at the point (1, −1, −2).
Solution: We define the function:

f (x, y, z) = xy 3 + yz 3 + z 2 x − 11
The given surface is the level surface of the above function correspond-
ing to the value 0. Therefore the gradient:

∇f (1, −1, −2) = h3, −5, −16i

is normal to the level surface at the point (1, −1, −2) and thus normal
to the sought-for tangent plane. Hence the equation of the tangent
plane is:

3(x − 1) − 5(y + 1) − 16(z + 2) = 0

1
 xy + yz 2
3. Let f (x, y, z) = . Find the (best) linear approxima-
x2 + y 2 + z 3
tion of f around the point (1, 1, −1) and use it in order to estimate
f (.8, 1.1, −.9).
Solution: We begin by finding the partial derivatives:
y(x2 + y 2 + z 3 ) − (xy + yz 2 ) · 2x
fx =
(x2 + y 2 + z 3 )2
(x + z 2 )(x2 + y 2 + z 3 ) − (xy + yz 2 ) · 2y
fy =
(x2 + y 2 + z 3 )2
2yz(x2 + y 2 + z 3 ) − (xy + yz 2 ) · 3z 2
fz =
(x2 + y 2 + z 3 )2
which implies that:

fx (1, 1, −1) = −3 fy (1, 1, −1) = −2 fz (1, 1, −1) = −8

Also f (1, 1, −1) = 2. This implies that the linear approximation is:

g(x, y, z) = 2 − 3(x − 1) − 2(y − 1) − 8(z + 1)

and

f (.8, 1.1, −.9) ≈ g(.8, 1.1, −.9) = 1.6